Journey to the Past
by Rose-By Any Other Username
Summary: Paul and Stephanie's relationship was ripped to shreds when he goes off to college in the big city. Five years down the line, Paul starts to think about her again and when he comes back to town for his sister's birthday party, will sparks fly between the two?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I think this is the longest I've ever knit-picked over a story but then again the idea for it bothered the hell out of me. A very special thanks to AdeebaLovesHHH for going over this chapter with me, for a couple of hours. If you haven't read any of her fics, please go do so (she's in my fav authors on my profile). As always, please remember to review. Hope you enjoy! **

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_It was Paul Levesque's high school graduation party, he should be in the old barn with his family and friends, having a good time, and dancing with his girlfriend, Stephanie McMahon. But instead, he was sitting a few acres away, by his girlfriend's side, trying his best to muster up the courage to speak to moment he announced that he was going to college in New York City, Stephanie ran off. So now here they were, not talking, while geese floated by on the gorgeous blue water and the sun set behind them._

_Stephanie decided to break the silence with the question she was begging to ask him all night, "You're really leaving then?"_

_Her voice came out in a whisper as she tucked a chestnut lock behind her ear. Paul could tell she was still thinking things over as she struggled with the words, almost as if she was afraid of the answer._

_With a deep sigh, he brought himself to speak, "Steph, there's nothing here for me. I don't want to stay here and waste my life away. I want to see the world, to make a name for myself. I could never do that here." He was trying to search her face for any sign of emotion but she just continued to stare out onto the lake._  
_"Come with me, Steph. We could do this together. Go to college in the city, get married, and start a whole new life there." Paul grabbed her hands as if they was his most precious possession while he waited for an answer. Sure, he was thinking on his feet when he suggested it, but he always knew that he was going to marry Stephanie. Stephanie McMahon was his best friend, his whole world._

_Paul had nothing but love his eyes while he tried to convince her to come with him, whereas Stephanie had nothing but sadness, "I can't leave. This is home, Paul. This will always be home."_

_Then there was silence again, and they both just sat there waiting for the other to speak. No words, just a silence that made the both of them realize that this was the end. Just as Paul was about to open his mouth he heard his mother call him from the barn. Already at a loss for words, he reluctantly got up from off the ground, dusted himself off, and turned to leave. Stephanie remained staring at the lake as the sun continued to set._

_As he was walking away, he heard her soft voice, "If you ever come back to this sleepy, old town, promise me that you'll come see me." _

_Paul turned around to face her. She was now standing with tears spilling out from her blue orbs, running down her beautiful face, and splatting on her white sun dress. He hated seeing her like this, yet he still couldn't deny that she looked like an angel, even as she was breaking down._

_With an aching heart, he uttered, "I promise."_

_He took quick strides to reach her. When their bodies met, Paul's palms reached her tear-stained cheeks as his lips crushed into hers._

Paul bolted up, waking himself from the dream. Damn his mother for making him come back home for his sister's birthday. Anytime he thought about going back home, he always had that dream of when he left Stephanie behind. He hadn't had made contact with her since he left. It had been 5 years and he still couldn't face her.

His mother, Patricia, had tried to convince him to come back to visit all through college. He is now a year out of college and decided that he would give into his mother's demands this time. It wasn't like he didn't like going home to see his family. He didn't like going home because Stephanie was there and he wasn't sure if he could ever face her again.

"Babe, are you okay?" inquired Lauren, a beautiful blonde haired woman was had been his girlfriend for about a year.

He glanced over at her, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a bad dream."

Lauren snuggled into his side, looking up at him with concerned green eyes, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Paul contemplated telling his girlfriend that he was having dreams about his ex-girlfriend, but then decided that she might think that he still had feelings for Stephanie. Which was the last thing he wanted to happen. He was already unsure whether she was just invading his dreams, or if she was still buried deep within his heart. He had to stop thinking about all this! Whatever he had with Stephanie was in the past. It didn't matter that her beautiful face had a bad habit of strolling into his dreams, or that he had yet to become close to engagement in the past 4 years just because he wasn't able to get himself to fall for someone like he had fallen with Steph. Stephanie was the past right? And...Laura? No, Lauren was the future. Fuck! Now he couldn't even remember his own girlfriends name. He chalked that up to a lack of sleep.

"No, it's not important anyway. Let's just go back to bed" responded Paul, stifling a yawn.

Paul sank back down into the mattress and wrapped his arms around Lauren, trying to drift off to sleep. She turned in his arms and whispered, "I'm so excited to meet your family. I hope they'll like me."

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it. I'm sure they'll love you, just like I do." Paul lied to her. The truth was, his family loved Stephanie too much. Every time he talks to any of them on the phone, they try to work her into the conversation somehow. His sister, Lynn, always commenting on how kind Stephanie was, his father was keeping him up to date on how beautiful she was, and his mother always praised her cooking. In their eyes, Stephanie was the perfect woman and anyone else would be mediocre in comparison.

The more he thought of everything, the more he dreaded going back home. Yet before he knew it, he was drifting off into a deep sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: After a long night of writing and rewriting I finally have an update for you guys. If it weren't for AdeebaLovesHHH this story would probably be no where, so extra special thanks to her. The song I used was "Your Song" by Elton John. I think that about covers everything. Oh, and as always please remember to review! Hope you enjoy!**

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Paul awoke the next morning to a banging sound coming from the closet adjacent to the bed. After a night filled with dreams of...her, getting up to see what was going on was probably his best option right now. Before he could rip back the covers to inspect the source of the noise, he heard his girlfriend give a hearty grunt, heaving a large suitcase from its confines within the closet. Lauren pulled the damn thing so hard that she was thrown to the ground with the suitcase on top of her. Just the sight of her spectacle made Paul chuckle.

"Babe, what are you doing?"

Lauren huffed as she tossed the suitcase off of her, "Trying to pack so we can catch our flight on time, no thanks to you!"

Really? She was yelling at him for not helping. It was times like this that reminded him why he didn't want to jump into another relationship only to have it crumble into pieces due to petty arguments. No, he would be damned if he let himself go back to being alone, dwelling on the past. He was going to man up and play the role of gentle, caring boyfriend.

Paul got up from the bed and walked over to his dresser, searching through stacks of clothes, "I would have helped you. All you had to do was wake me up."

She stood up and glared at him, "I'm not your mother, Paul. I shouldn't have to wake you up!"

He gave Lauren a weird look. It was so unlike her to snap at him like that. She was normally the calm, collected one. Something was definitely bothering her. He stopped what he was doing and sauntered over to stand behind to her.

Paul wrapped his arms around her, placing a gentle kiss on her neck, "What's wrong, hm?"

"I'm just nervous. I want everything to be perfect when I meet your family." she said with a soft sign.

"Everything will fall into place, babe, I promise." Paul patted her on the butt and smirked, "Now let's finish packing."

The couple continued packing and headed to the airport to catch their fight.

The airport seemed just a little familiar. Paul had been there, yes, but it had been 5 long years. However, it seemed like he hadn't flown in forever. Which was somewhat true. New York had been his home all these years and he never felt the need to discover new places. He fell in love with the city too soon for his own good. He had distant memories of the airport. The day he had been there, his face was dull, he had left a number of people behind, and their memories were all he carried. That day, he had that one person on his mind. And ironically, she was on his mind today too. Bitter sweet feelings, along with the guilt of leaving her behind, was washing over him.

He got on the airplane, along with his girlfriend, who was almost invisible to him. She was there, and yet she wasn't. Not in his mind at least. And someone, who wasn't here, was swimming across his brain like she'd never left. Memories, he distantly realized, were a dagger to the heart. In just a matter of time, when he found himself revisiting the past as his mind drifted off.

_Stephanie looked skeptical as she walked hand-in-hand with Paul. He had assured her weeks in advance that their flight to New York would go smoothly. He had saved up all year to pay to take her there for their two-year anniversary. The only thing in the way was Stephanie's fear of flying. She'd never been on a plane before so she was nervous. Oh who was she kidding, she was freaking out! He could tell she was nervous by how he gripped his hand for dear life. Paul was beginning to regret the whole trip._

_"Steph, honey, everything's fine. No need to work yourself up over it. Planes are one of the safest means of transportation these days." He said giving her hand a soft squeeze._

_Stephanie turned and looked at his as they headed toward their terminal, "Tell me how they get a 200 ton metal box to lift off the ground and then we'll talk about being calm._

_"How did I not know that you were into watching the discovery channel? But, hey, thanks for the insight on the plane's weight. I really didn't know that it weighed that much," He chuckled, earning a scowl from Stephanie._

_Frantically rummaging through his brain to get some mind-blowing idea to pull this trip off successfully, Paul fell into a thoughtful silence. Stephanie was already thinking over a way to get to LA without using a plane and without hurting Paul. However, that was slightly unrealistic. But, oh well, one always had the right to fantasize, right? Maybe she could fantasize a way around this little phobia of hers? Much to her dismay, the minute she got into the airplane, the fear resurfaced. Airplane. Height. So many people to lift up. She was planning to swoon any minute now._

_Paul took a seat beside her, and a few minutes later they were buckled up. Ready to take off for a beautiful journey ahead. Only if Steph went along with the plan. Because of the long discussion he had inside his head, the only idea that appealed to him was to distract Stephanie. Trying to logic with her in such a situation, would be like bouncing his head off on the airplane's window. _

_Just as the engines of the plane buzzed, Paul put his plan into full gear, uttering a silent prayer for attaining success._

_The man was a genius, without a shadow of a doubt. Being well aware of how deep Stephanie's love for music went, he figured it was distracting enough to sing a song. Not just any song, but one of her favorite songs. And well it wasn't a hidden secret that Paul had the most sexy yet flat voice when it came to singing songs. He had always been able to tease the hell out of Steph by being his out-of-tone self._

_So the plan was good, even if he said so himself. Deciding to go all out to make his plan work, he started in a rather quiet voice, which though quite easily reached his fellow passenger._

_Putting on his best Elton John impression he began to sing, "And you can tell everyyybodyyy this is your sooonnng." His voice became squeaky at the stretched out words. And the look on his face never gave Stephanie the least bit impression that he was doing this deliberately._

_Looking over at him, with ocean-blue eyes wide open, Stephanie suppressed the urge to smack him. His plan was working, and so was Stephanie's amusement. She knew he wasn't good at singing, he quite frankly sucked at it. But so horrible? That wasn't expected._

_Keeping his attention undivided, Paul continued to sing, "It might be quiiiiite simple buuttt, now that its dooonne. I hope you donnn'tt mindddd, I hope you donnn'ttt minddd, that I put it down in worrrddddsss."_

_He glanced over at Stephanie who was trying her best to keep that scowl plastered on her face. However, her attempt was on the verge of failing. He looked at her again, this time for a little longer. And there went her resolution. She broke down in such an uncontrollable laughter that tears spurted out of her eyes. Elton John might've suffered a heart attack and ended up on a ventilator if he had the opportunity to listen to this gorgeous singer sing his song. She needed air. She needed to breathe. This was greatest mocking that she had ever witnessed. Singing a song was one thing. Ruining a song, murdering its feel and traumatizing the listener, was another. Well that was Paul for you._

_Hearing to the laughter that sounded even more musical than an actual song, Paul flashed her a grin of his own. He didn't stop there. Nope. Distracting her was the beginning. He had to do that until the plane had taken off. With determination, and the new sought attention of his girlfriend, he continued._

_"How beautiful life iss when you're in the worrrllddd." He was a little taken aback when Stephanie sang along with him. Matching his tone, slurring and stretching the words, they sang in unison loudly. A satisfied grin adorning his face, and a beautiful smile on hers. Her giggles followed, as they sang together, ignoring the glares from the people around them. They were too busy having a good time with each other._

_The song came to an end, and Paul had that look of winning some big trophy spread across his face, as he looked outside the window. They were already in air, and the hitch in the plan was nicely taken care of._

_Voicing his content and relief, Paul whispered,"See Steph, flying isn't all that bad, is it?"_

_Turning around to look at her boyfriend, who sounded more enthralled than ever, Stephanie had to do a double take. The view that the window pane gave wasn't what she expected. They were already in air and the realization just hit her now. The phobia was a distant memory, she had made it through the take off. Amazing. And all because someone was busy distracting her all this time. She felt blessed. And in that moment she showed her admiration by snuggling into his side. Airplanes weren't that bad when you had a companion like Paul, she concluded._

_"You really are the sweetest guy ever," Stephanie gushed._

_"Don't say that too loud. You'll kill my bad boy reputation," the reputation-concerned teenager ordered jokingly._

_Stephane just laughed as they headed towards one of the best trips of their life's._

Paul was knocked from his thoughts as the flight attendant announced that they had arrived in Greenwich. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, he noticed. The memorable moments were imprinted on his mind, and a trip down memory lane every once in a while was definitely one of his usual activity. But, given the situation, the memory was unsettling. He had a girlfriend for crying out loud. And Stephanie was probably over him, he had no right to complain about that though. However, the thought was disturbing. As of now, he wasn't sure how he felt about being home again. Everything about being here had traces of Stephanie. Was he really ready to see her? The truth was that he wasn't sure of the answer himself. the best he could do was to take one step at a time and hope for the best.


End file.
